We commemorate Kevin Ostapenko, the player behind Hannas Darkblade and Katzchar Telvic and a long-time contributor to Aelyria. In memory of his contributions, roleplaying excellence, and community advocacy, our community nominates and the Management Team selects one member to receive the Kevin Ostapenko Memorial Scholarship for Roleplaying Excellence, or Kevin's Award for short. The prize, besides the recognition, is a one year Companionship on the site.

After a review of the nominees and a discussion of who has, in the previous year, best exemplified all the qualities Kevin was known and beloved for, the Management Team has decided to award the Kevin Ostapenko Memorial Scholarship for Roleplaying Excellence Award 2017 to Liahal.

Liahal has been a member of the community for a number of years now and has been one of the driving forces in the OOC community building aspects of the game such as the AMA sessions and helping new players in Aelyria's old IRC chat and current Discord. She contributes to the game on multiple levels and exemplifies the qualities of character that Kevin's Award is all about. Congratulations!!

Thank you to all who participated and continue to participate, not just in the nominations but in making this a better community for all of us!

Congratulations, Lia! Definitely one of my favourite writers on these boards, but more crucially, just an absolutely awesome human being! It has been fantastic to get to know Lia a little over the past year. She has been an important part of the community that keeps drawing me back, and this award seems thoroughly deserved.